re: Jay lands another transfter - KU Pitcher Cooper Moore

quote:

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Larson was given ample opportunity to secure a spot. It didn’t work out. He didn’t get crowded out. He made a choice and I hope he does well.

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I'm not saying Larson didnt get opportunity enough but he was definitely crowded out by Frey once he took over that DH spot full time basically. Frey was hitting both LH and RH pitcher so it made Larson in the lineup against RH pretty moot. Larson just never gave any indication he would mash this season and with Frey mashing there was just no room for Larson to play other than maybe some mid-week appearances and late game PH.

Larson on his end would argue he just never was probably able to get in a flow because he was constantly on/off on the bench early on in the season and once Frey took over he rarely saw any playing time. Larson had a pretty solid freshman year so we know he can hit, he just couldnt quite get it figured out this season in advance of his spot being taken.

Now with Frey gone that opportunity is absolutely there for him to take but in the end I think he didnt like being seen as just a DH rather wants the shot to play the OF and I think Texas is promising him that.

Ultimately we will have good players transfer out of here and thats just the depth Jay has built, there are no promises you will play here even you might be able to start for the majority of SEC teams. I honestly expect Larson to have a pretty good year at Texas if he's given opportunity to bat full time. Texas lost Gasparino to the portal, Belyeu to the draft and another OF (Farmer) that started a lot this year lost his starting spot going into the postseason because he was hitting .250 with zero power. On top of that, they have Jonah Williams which will probably never be an every day starter there for the OF with his football obligations, which I doubt they just let him skip all of spring football practice to play baseball basically. So there's clearly a shot for Larson there in the OF.

Kling had his issues here, made sure he went somewhere to get a lot of playing time, and mashed this season. Just didnt have the guarantees he could work out enough playing time here but still ended up being a very good player.